1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for determining the degree of negative effects of macrophages on a vertebrate (including a human), the method including assaying diacetylpolyamine contained in a sample collected from the vertebrate.
2. Background Art
As has been said, accumulation of macrophages in a cancerous area of a subject suffering cancer is correlated with the malignancy of the cancer, and macrophages participate in inflammatory response or tissue reconstruction in the affected area (Breast Cancer Res., 2003, 5: 83-88).
Understanding the state of macrophages specific to such inflammatory response or tissue reconstruction would be useful for determining the degree of progression of the disease or selecting a therapeutic method for the disease.
Hitherto, several factors produced by macrophages have been reported, but there has not yet been reported a marker which directly reflects metabolic conditions of macrophages; in particular, negative effects of macrophages on a patient.
Recently, diacetylpolyamines (e.g., diacetylspermine and diacetylspermidine) have become of interest as cancer-specific markers, and specific assays therefor have been reported (see, for example, Japanese Patent No. 3709078, WO 2004/81569, J. Cancer Res. Clin. Oncol., 123 (1997), 539-545, and J. Biochem. (Tokyo), 132 (2002), 783-788).
Such diacetylpolyamines have been considered to be produced by cancer cells per se. However, studies have not yet elucidated the mechanism of diacetylpolyamine production, the relation between diacetylpolyamine and cancer progression, and the relation between diacetylpolyamine production and macrophages.
As described above, there has not yet been reported a marker which directly reflects metabolic conditions of macrophages; in particular, negative effects of macrophages on a patient. Therefore, such a specific marker, if developed, would be employed as a very useful diagnostic marker for determining, for example, the degree of infiltration or malignancy of cancer, or for predicting the likelihood of cancer recurrence.